Re: [Phys-l] Is something wrong here?????

["Strickert, Rick" <rstrickert@signaturescience.com>]

> Even if this were a generally accepted convention, it doesn't address the original question: 
> how can you go SOUTHeast of the SOUTH Pole?  The answer is, of course, you can't.

This was alluded to in some earlier posts.  However as soon as one goes in any direction from the South Pole, the directions of east and west become valid terms. How the terms would be defined as one goes away from South Pole (say, toward the drilling station over Lake Vostok) is being discussed.

The Vostok station is located at 78°27'51.92"S 106°50'14.38"E.  Thus, from the South Pole one could refer travelling to it in a north-east direction (preferably with the aid of a good GPS).   

Even the "old joke" notes the "west" direction:

> 	"A man walks a mile north, a mile west, and a mile south,
> 	and finds himself back in camp.  What color is the bear?"
>
> The answer, of coruse, is "white" because it's a polar bear.  

And, as noted by others, there are no polar bears at the South Pole.  


Rick Strickert
Austin, TX